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Thread: Help with portable whole house generator.

  1. #1
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    Help with portable whole house generator.

    Family has been after me to get a generator for power outages for years. The ice storm the last few days has brought the subject up yet again. Lucky we did not lose power.

    My problem I cant get past in buying one is NOT USING an inverter generator but just a regular generator and the problem it may cause with electronics (total harmonic distortion ). Im a little confused because people power their home with one all the time but seems like EVERYTHING in the home is electronic. The refrigerator, microwave, TV etc... Seems kinda like buying car tires that cant be used on pavement.
    When I start looking at inverter generators the cost starts getting up there to the point Im not sure I want to invest that much. I live close to town and if our electric goes off, it is often no more than 2 or 3 hours. And that may be only once a year if that.

    Guess I m just looking for a little guidance what you have done and is the problem with electronics over exaggerated. Does a whole house surge protector help with this. Is there a way to protect you electronics when using the generator?

    I am doing my research first but do plan to have an electrician experienced in generator install do the work.

    This is the kind of generator I had my eye on. Maybe I can get by with a lesser one. Not sure. My brother owns a Champion brand for camping and it has been flawless in operation.
    https://www.homedepot.com/p/Westingh...9500/306545963

    They make one that only had like 5% THD but now your talking close to $3000.
    https://www.homedepot.com/p/Westingh...00DF/310741097
    Last edited by Dave Lehnert; 02-05-2022 at 4:21 PM.
    "Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
    - Rick Dale

  2. #2
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    Something else to consider... most of the inexpensive non-inverter generators, i.e. the open-frame style... are gawd-awful noisy. As in, people the next block over will know you're running a generator. Odds of anyone in your house (or your immediate neighbors) being able to sleep while that thing is running, without wearing ear plugs, are slim to none.

  3. #3
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    Dave, I have a smaller conventional (non-inverter) gas powered portable generator and have never had an issue with anything being damaged or not operating properly when using it. I probably have a couple hundred hours of run time on it total, including a week straight while our underground service was being repaired (although we only ran it maybe 10-12 hours each day). Biggest issue is noise and keeping it fueled up. I will say that I've never tried to run any big machines on it....nothing bigger than our 1 HP well pump. But our unit's only 7.5 KW.
    --I had my patience tested. I'm negative--

  4. #4
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    Shenandoah Valley in Virginia
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    Fuel type

    Highly recommend if you buy one that it is a propane or dual fuel generator and use it ONLY on propane.
    Any unit you buy that uses gas will have carb problems unless you either run it on a regular basis or drain carb after each use...

    Since it will only be run occasionally during a power outage the hassle with gas is not worth it in my opinion.

    When we loose power it used to be for days, lately it is only for few hours or max of 1-2 days (rarely).

    Do not find noise to be a problem. New units are fairly quiet.

    Update: Also recommend getting electric start & a $6 trickle charger from Harbor Freight since battery will get little use..
    Last edited by Ed Aumiller; 02-05-2022 at 6:19 PM. Reason: add electric start

  5. #5
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    Regular generators do not put out as "clean" as power as invertor generators... but a lot of power companies do not either. Pretty much all electronics have to be able to deal with dirty power, it is power spikes and surges that usually cause problems. Electronics run on DC and the power supplies filter, clean up and regulate the power after it has been rectified to DC. Personally I like the invertor generators though.

    My brother in law asked for help finding a generator for the California rolling outages. This is the model we came up with:
    https://www.costco.com/firman-3200w-...100843922.html

    Now 4 of his neighbors now have the exact same generator and have been very happy for a couple of years. None of them have ever been run on gasoline, all of them have only used propane which is much better than storing a generator with gasoline in the carb.

    At the time we looked for an affordable generator that would also run on natural gas but there weren't affordable invertor tri-fuel generators that we could find at the time. If you go for a generator without an invertor you may want to look for one that will run on natural gas and gasoline if you have natural gas available. My brother in law uses 40lb tanks of propane and can go an entire year of rolling outages on a single tank while keeping all the essentials powered. Invertor generators regulate their speed based on power draw. Regular generators run at the same set RPM all the time regardless of load which is why they are considerably less efficient under partial load circumstances.
    Last edited by Michael Schuch; 02-05-2022 at 6:39 PM.

  6. #6
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    I have a LP 9kw Generac for the house. It has been excellent, but as a single cylinder unit it is not preferred by the dealers. I installed my own and do general service, oil filter, valve adjust. My SIL has a Harbor Freight Predator inverter that has worked very well for him in his travel trailer. They seem to get good reviews. The Gold Standard for the little inverters is Honda, of course. Quite a bit more than the Predator but very good. I would, at this point in the season, wait until spring and see what sales come up at the end of your winter. Look at what you want to be able to run with your unit. Picking a generator is the ultimate load shedding game.

  7. #7
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    Thanks for the advice so far.

    I have a good handle on the pro and cons of gas vs propane and operation of a generator. How to hook up etc..
    Just dont want to blow out any electronics and the best way to protect them for the lowest cost.
    TV. Ill just unplug it. Dont need a tv during a power outage.
    Would like to run the basics like oil furnace, central air because 90+ year old mother lives with me and breathing problems. Freezer and refrigerator. again, No need to run a generator if im going to damage the electronics.
    "Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
    - Rick Dale

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Schuch View Post
    Regular generators do not put out as "clean" as power as invertor generators... but a lot of power companies do not either. Pretty much all electronics have to be able to deal with dirty power, it is power spikes and surges that usually cause problems. Electronics run on DC and the powersupplies fliter, clean up and regulate the power after it has been rectified to DC. Personally I like the invertor generators though.

    My brother in law asked for help finding a generator for the California rolling outaages. This is the model we came up with:
    https://www.costco.com/firman-3200w-...100843922.html

    Now 4 of his neighbors have the exact same generator and have been very happy for a couple of years now. None of them have ever been run on gasoline, all of them have only used propane which is much better than storing a generator with gasoline in the carb.

    At the time we looked for an affordable generator that would also run on natural gas but there weren't affordable invertor tri-fuel generators that we could find at the time. If you go for a generator without an invertor you may want to look for one that will run on natural gas and gasoline if you have natural gas available. My brother in law uses 40lb tanks of propane and can go an entire year of rolling outages on a single tank while keeping all the essentials powered. Invertor generators regulate their speed based on power draw. Regualor generators run at the same set RPM all the time reguardless of load which is why they are considerably less efficient under partial load circumstances.

    I have read about the Firman generators from Costco in my research, Seems to be well liked.
    "Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
    - Rick Dale

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Lehnert View Post
    Thanks for the advice so far.

    I have a good handle on the pro and cons of gas vs propane and operation of a generator. How to hook up etc..
    Just dont want to blow out any electronics and the best way to protect them for the lowest cost.
    TV. Ill just unplug it. Dont need a tv during a power outage.
    Would like to run the basics like oil furnace, central air because 90+ year old mother lives with me and breathing problems. Freezer and refrigerator. again, No need to run a generator if im going to damage the electronics.

    Central air is going to be 240v. That is going to take you to a whole other class of machine than the cheap inverter generators. I can live without air conditioning in an outage but I can't live without water and my well pump is 240v. So the portable inverter generators will not be sufficient for my needs. I currently have a 240v generator head rigged up that I can use to fill my well pressure tanks. It is far from a whole house solution though.

    Again, spikes and surges kill electronics, not dirty power wave forms. Houses with solar panels that sell their power back to the electric company can be a major source of wave form abbreviations. So even clean power from the power company can pretty easily be dirtied by old infrastructure and customers with noisy loads. The whole "Pure Sine Wave Power" is more marketing hype than actual science. You may want to find some real scientific material to read about dirty power... rather than marketing material from the invertor generator companies.
    Last edited by Michael Schuch; 02-05-2022 at 6:56 PM.

  10. #10
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    Sep 2006
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    Shenandoah Valley in Virginia
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    Have been using plain generators on electronics for 25 plus years, both in house during outages and in our RV.
    Never had any electronic device fail. Even had one person who borrowed the RV hook it up to 240v when it is a 110v RV.
    TV, CD player, Radio still worked fine!!!
    FYI, during an outage I like a working TV and internet on computer to find out restoration efforts, etc..

  11. #11
    Currently own eight different generators ( not including welder,) non of the inverter ones. One 5KW unit is housed as a stand by generator for the house. It's in a small shed, with air intake, ducted exhaust and an exhaust fan with shutters, which is run off generator. Exhaust piping is aimed to ground by an elbow set to about 45 degrees.. When power is down, we operate two fridges, TV, lights and booster pump from generator. If weather is warm, we also operate a 6000 BTU window unit. We have a 1500 gallon above ground storage tank for water. If it gets low, I take second 5KW generator and run well pump to refill tank (about five hours run time.) On any gasoline generator, add a pulse fuel pump between tank and carburetor, along with a quick disconnect. Buy two quick connects and rig up a line that you can drop directly into gas cans. This way, you can connect to generator, while it's running and draw directly from fuel cans. On vehicles without a check valve in fill neck, you can draw directly from gas tank on extended runs (days.) 5 KW is the minimum for running a submersible pump. My 3.5 KW units won't start my pump (1/2 HP, Franklin motor.)
    Last edited by Bruce Wrenn; 02-06-2022 at 11:02 AM.

  12. #12
    I bought a Westinghouse 7500 dual fuel generator after a mult-day outage last year. Used it for the first time when we had an ice storm about three weeks ago. The electric start is a nice feature.
    It's wired into our panel via a lockout breaker arrangement. It's got enough power to run everything except the big three. Heat pump, electric water heater and electric clothes dryer are all NO-NO.
    Our computers and TV's are on UPS's. They ran fine. The UPS will take the THD out as it converts the power. For heat in the winter I purchased two electric 1500 watt radiant space heaters.

  13. #13
    my experience with non-inverter generators is things like microwaves hum louder than normal. Worse are non-inverter inverters, going from 12vdc to 120vac, the hum can be much louder. Never noticed any problem with computers, monitors & TV's. I have a Harbor Freight 3500w inverter generator but I've only used it to run air blowers and angle grinders while working on the boat, so no experience with 'delicate' electronics. Nice genny, very quiet and even though it has electric start, it's never failed to start with one pull of the rope-
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  14. #14
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    Oct 2007
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    Dave, you may be over-thinking this.

    I have ten generators here on the farm, ranging in size from a 2KW diesel up to 225KW. Most of the house backup has been done by 12KW diesels (although I used a 5500W propane for a few years too). One is a gasoline inverter model (Honda EU6500i).

    In 22 years I've never had a problem with the generators frying electronics. We use 10KW and 12KW Onan and EPS generators 40 hours a week on my wife's veterinary practice (mobile surgical hospitals) and never had a problem with the computer equipment, electronic scales, or medical monitoring devices.

    Granted, just about all of the generators that I use are higher quality multi-cylinder 1725rpm models. Even the 5500W propane was a 2 cylinder Onan.

    The Honda inverter generator is very nice. Clean power and very quiet. We use it as a standby unit for the hospitals. If they lose their onboard diesel generator, we can run the Honda out to keep them in operation.

  15. #15
    One thing to remember is you will need to ground the frame of your portable generator. The one that is used as whole house is connected to an eight foot driven ground rod, using #6 copper. Yes, I know it's over kill, but I had the wire already, so why not use it?

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